Interview with Keejchen
Achievements in the Thunderdome series so far:
Winner of first Octgn Tournament
Ro4 (third round) lost against gw in the Thunderdome I. tournament
Ro2 (third round) lost against Charmyna in the Thunderdome II. tournament
Schwenkgott: Congratulations on reaching the european finals of Thunderdome II.! You always do really well in Octgn tournaments. Did you expect to get that far this time?
Keejchen: Honestly, at the start of the of this Thunderdome my hopes were not high. First of all, when I saw the brackets for this tournament, I noticed more of the good MW players (known to me), were in this time around, including of course Charmyna. As I suspected Juli had brought his necromancer, which my own necromancer would have had a hard time against.
I realized a lot of things about my deck only after submitting it, it has some significant weaknesses that I did not account for during creation. I was actually really happy when Coshade announced that we were able to change our decks, and just as sad when the first game suddenly started while I was working on my other submission. As a side note I would wish for a more precise game schedule for the next tournament.
Rigorous training with my local gaming buddy (known on octgn as Biblofilter) is the main reason i got so far in this tournament. You guys are lucky that he is not participating online tournaments, he is a fierce and efficient opponent!
Schwenkgott: You stand out by using unusual decks, I used to call them exotic. Where does your inspiration come from to build those books? Your Elemental Wizard was really successful, why did you switch to the Necromancer this time?
Keejchen: I will be answering these questions together.
I am happy that you appreciate my work! I love Mage Wars, it is without a doubt my favorite game. The thing is I play it a lot, and I easily get bored of the same old decks and matchups. MW is awesome because of the variety it has, mixed with the full control you have over your deck, you can really make a lot of fun combinations.
I like to look at cards that are labeled as bad and not often used, and coming up with combinations that will make them work. First Thunderdome it was the wizard's tome, then the earth elemental needed some love (and some elemental friends!), and this time around I wanted to create an unending army by reanimating my own creatures with an animate dead wand.
I am also a bit of a roleplayer by heart, and I like my decks to have thematics to them. Tournaments might not be the best place to test these theories, but I always get a little giddy when I'm on camera.
Schwenkgott: Looking back: Was it the right choice to switch the mage?
Keejchen: The rumor is going around that the wizard is stronger than the other mages, and I do agree with this to some degree. But even though wizard is strong (and probably my favorite mage), I think I would have been bored had I chosen him again. That said, the necromancer is also limited in variety so I will probably leave him alone for a while.
Schwenkgott: Many people play mainstream decks without too many surprises. Don't they push their creativity enough?
Keejchen: I believe players should play what decks they think are most fun! I get a kick out of building my own decks, and that might sometimes give me the advantage of surprise. On the other hand I think I often sacrifice efficiency for fun, which might be one of my biggest weaknesses. If you think using mainstream decks are fun, then play them, they are mainstream because they work. I have lost many games to new players who just used a deck they read about on the forum.
Schwenkgott: In a rematch versus Charmynas Tank Mage, how would you try to break through his defenses?
Keejchen: Well, I have played Charmyna before, but this was my first time seeing and playing against the blasting banker, though I had heard of the deck before. Biblofilter, mentioned above, is a big fan of Charmyna and warned me about it.
Usually I would say that no deck is better than any other well thought out deck, but Charmynas deck might be an exception. Saying the deck is unbeatable would be wrong, a deck is only as strong as the player who wields it. That being said though, the blasting banker touches upon a weak spot in every MW deck, that is the 120 spelbook point limit. From what I have seen in this tournament, whether intentional or not, the banker is built to outlast any opponent by armoring up while denying them the damage output they need to kill the mage, and using wands to keep casting spells. By doing so the banker will always win against any deck not built to overcome this kind of defensive play, or at least achieve a draw in the case where the opponent plays equally defensive.
While beating it is not impossible (I hope!), I think in the future I would likely test my competitive decks against it as a benchmark of sorts. "Is this deck strong enough to kill the blasting banker in the hands of a skilled player?" I always say the best way to test a car is to run it into a wall. It would be interesting to see someone make a benchmark list such as this.
Schwenkgott: I hope to see you again it the arena during the next Thunderdome. Without spoiling too much: Do you already keep an eye on a certain mage?
Keejchen: Of course I will participate! I love playing MW, but I also love seeing all the other cool matches being played out. And I love when players give their best, as we have certainly seen in this tournament.
As far as my next mage, it is impossible to tell at the moment. The meta will change a lot in the coming months with the new expansions coming out. Maybe paladin though!
